The Planet of No Return
| number = 1 & 29 | date = 2266 | stardate = 1809.2 | artist = Nevio Zaccara | writer = Dick Wood | printed = | omnibus = The Enterprise Logs, Volume 1; The Key Collection, Volume 1; Gold Key Archives, Volume 1 | published = , | format = | pages = 26 | publisher = Gold Key Comics | ISBN = | altcover = 220px }} :An expedition team discovers its secret—too late… K-G, planet of death! :K-2, planet of death, where cannibal plants stalk animal prey! Summary :Captain's log, stardate 18:09.2 : carrying out exploration mission through Galaxy Alpha. So far we've seen no indication of life anywhere in the galaxy. The Enterprise s space scope detects a fertile green planet. Scotty comments that it looks "Kelly Green" and Captain Kirk orders a landing party to be assembled. While approaching the planet, the Enterprise passes through a mist, within which float plant spores which fasten themselves to the hull and quickly penetrate the ship. The spores cause the laboratory guinea pigs to transform into tree-like plants which attack Spock and Dr. McCoy, but are soon destroyed by security guards. While Spock investigates how the transformation occurred, Kirk leads the landing party to the planet, which has been named K-G. While exploring, Crewman Hunt is exposed to spores and transforms into a giant plant. The rest of the landing party are nearly devoured by a carnivorous plant, but the transformed Hunt sacrifices himself to save them. After a brief funeral, the party discovers that K-G is inhabited by intelligent plants. They escape from attacking trees and take shelter in a nearby cave, but Rand is grabbed by a vine and dragged away. The others chase after the plant, which deposits her inside a large enclosure where animals are grazing. The landing party uses their phasers on the wall of thorns which surrounds the enclosure, but the thorns regenerate as fast as they are destroyed. Kirk sees the plants herding the animals away, and after gaining a vantage point from a rock pinnacle, they see that the plants consume the animals for food. Kirk calls the Enterprise and has Spock fire a pinpoint phaser beam at the thorn wall, destroying it and allowing them to rescue Rand from being eaten. Kirk orders Spock to beam them back up to the ship just before the plants can infect them with more plant spores. On the Enterprise, Spock tells Kirk that the spores pose a threat to life on all other planets in the galaxy. They therefore use the ship's weaponry to destroy all life on K-G. ;Captain's log, stardate 18:10. : We are orbiting the planet Kelly Green, performing what will be our last duty here... Total destruction - a mission that must be fulfilled before we can continue our tour of research through the vast reaches of the universe... References Characters : • Hunt • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Janice Rand • Spock • K-G giant cannibal plant • K-G running vine plant • K-G cattle beasts • K-G tumbleweed plants • [[uSS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel|USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel]] • [[unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel|unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel]] Starships and vehicles : ( heavy cruiser) Locations Shipboard locations ;USS Enterprise : bridge • teleportation chamber • laboratory • briefing room Planets and planetoids :K-G Stellar regions :the galaxy's Alpha or Beta Quadrants (Galaxy Alpha) Races and cultures :Human • Vulcan • Materials and substances :atmosphere • blood • gas • oxygen Technology and weapons :binoculars • identification bracelet • phaser • space scope • starship • teleporter • TV radio • TV scanner States and organizations :Starfleet • United Federation of Planets Ranks and titles :captain • commander • commanding officer • Federation Starfleet ranks • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • first officer • lieutenant commander • officer • scientist • science officer Other references :anatomy • animal • boot • captain's log • cattle • clothing • cobra • crewman • finger • five-year mission • fog • galaxy • government • guinea pig • homeworld • humanoid • language • lifeform • log entry • matter • nation-state • orbit • pants • planet • plant • quadrant • races and cultures • rank • security • space • spore • star • stardate • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2260s) • technology • title • tunic • uniform • universe • weapon Appendices Background * This is Janice Rand's sole Gold Key Comics appearance, aside from a one-panel cameo in issue #24, , and the first of her very few appearances in any Star Trek comic. * A new cover painting created for the reprint edition depicts the attack on the landing party by a K-G running vine plant. It showed 's arm and leg mutating into tree branches. In the story, this transformation actually happened to Hunt during a prior attack by a K-G giant cannibal plant. * In 1975, Gold Key began augmenting its Star Trek run by reprinting occasional issues. This was the first issue to be reprinted. * This story has been released 32 times. In English, it was printed 14 times, scanned for a DVD and reproduced on filmstrips. In other languages, it was printed 16 times: French (3x), German (3x), Portuguese (3x), Dutch (2x), Italian (2x), Finnish, Serbian and Spanish. Images planet of No Return.jpg|Cover image. gk1-back.jpg|Back cover image. gold Key 29.jpg|Reprint edition cover. jtk GK1.jpg|James T. Kirk. spock GK1.jpg|Spock. sulu GK1.jpg|Hikaru Sulu. ent1701 GK1.jpg| orbits K-G. jtkGK1bac.jpg|James T. Kirk. hunt.jpg|Hunt. dean.jpg| . dean1.jpg| . randGK01.jpg|Janice Rand. randGK29.jpg|Janice Rand. jtkGK29.jpg|James T. Kirk. jtkGK29photo.jpg|James T. Kirk. spockGK29.jpg|Spock. huntGK29.jpg|Hunt. K-G-running-vine-plant.jpg|K-G running vine plant. Connections External links * * The Planet of No Return article at When Comic Books Ruled. * The Planet of No Return article at The Movie Blog. * Mighty TV Comic article at the Albion British Comics Database Wikia. category:tOS comics